Cord-Cutting, Or How to Stream your Way to Success

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Alkorin

Chancellor Alkorin

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I use:Unblock-Us - smarter faster VPN

It's DNS based. It works well, rarely had a problem, and when I do, it's because something has changed on the US side and Unblock-Us needs to catch up. I put their DNS on my router and everything in the house can use it, including any device I VPN home with. I run a VPN on my home server specifically to be able to do that from anywhere if I'm travelling and can't control my DNS.

It's the best compromise I've found so far. I get whatever Canadian content they haven't redirected to their proxy via DNS (HGTV, Food Network Canada, Discovery Canada, a bunch of other shit my wife watches, Hockey Night in Canada for playoff games), and everything else (e.g. Netflix) is American by default. You can switch the country that some services (again, Netflix) are proxied to, though, through a control panel on their site. Really solid service, IMO. Works with (again, again) Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime, HBO Now, Food Network, Pandora, anything I've tried on the Roku or Chromecast, and a bunch of other things I'm not remembering right now. Haven't tried any of the American sports stuff but I have to imagine it would be fine as well. There's a huge market for that.

Caveat: It's basically DNS hijacking, so, yeah. If they ever do something shady, that would suck. They haven't at this point. I keep a pretty close eye on SSL certs and such, though.
 
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Pizoi

Golden Squire
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I have a Whatbox account with the box located in the states that I can VPN (via OpenVPN software, which has a really nice Android app too) through with about 60Mbit/s speeds. I've only been using it for Netflix and Pandora/Spotify thus far though. I was mostly curious which services you were using on the other side of the VPN/DNS that you thought were worthwhile.

Do they have anything like CBC there where you can just pop on and watch live sports? Or does it all require cable subscription logins?
 
Alkorin

Chancellor Alkorin

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Not sure. I don't really watch much sports these days. CBC/HNiC still works, that much I know. Maybe I'll try tomorrow.
 
Convo

Convo

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Haven't read the thread so forgive if it's been talked about but anyone have a dragon box? If so, are they worth the $$?
 
Chanur

Chanur

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Many sites are requiring you to have a tv subscription now days. Hell I have a hulu sub and I still had to log in via my cable subscriber to access certain shows. It's pretty lame but they are doing everything they can to fuck streaming services.
 
Gnomedolf

Gnomedolf

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So I wanted to try NFL2Go. I sign up for a bitcoin account and purchased the required amount. It takes one week to get my bitcoins. I go to sign up for NFL2Go and the bitcoin amount has gone up, so I need to buy more. Wait another week. Go to sign up and now they are all sold out of slots. FML
 
Void

Void

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Convo_sl said:
Did a hands on with a dragon box today. I'm going to pick one up. Not the best video but gives you an idea.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=uCXv8u9bDi0
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From watching that, I'm curious what is different about that box than just a normal HTPC running XBMC/KODI with the same add-ons? Or is it the fact that the add-ons can only be connected to if you buy the Dragon Box? I mean, don't get me wrong, I see the attraction to just buying something and not having to mess with it, but I'm just wondering if it is somehow more than just a customized skin for XBMC? That video doesn't really show me anything that answers that question.
 
Ritley

Ritley

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It's shitty hardware with xbmc and a skin. Look at the Amazon reviews, Seems like a waste of money
 
Void

Void

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Ritley_sl said:
It's shitty hardware with xbmc and a skin. Look at the Amazon reviews, Seems like a waste of money
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Wow, I didn't realize it wasn't even a PC, but an android device that probably isn't any more powerful than my phone. Not that I was going to buy one, since I already have an HTPC working great, but I'm always interested in keeping up with what's out there. If someone here buys one I'd still like to hear about it, particularly how it is doing six months from now, but I sorta hope they change their mind and don't buy it.
 
Deathwing

Deathwing

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Nvidia Shield Console is the best non-HTPC box currently. Convo, no idea how you even spent 5 minutes researching that product and still thought it was a good idea.
 
Convo

Convo

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I know someone who has one. He pulled up a fuck ton of movies that haven't hit dvd yet, plus stuff in the theatre. Some of those are cam recordings tho. Picture quality was great with most of the content and it looks like I can grab just about any series on TV. Can shield pull the PPV feeds and new movies? I mainiy want it for that. Lots of PPV boxing coming up and I want an easy way to stream to my tv. Also nfl ticket which isn't available for me with my cable.

People say you can do all this without the box but I never really dug into. I want something for my living room big screen. Anyone know some cheaper alternatives? Mainly for PPV feeds
 
Convo

Convo

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Vvoid_sl said:
From watching that, I'm curious what is different about that box than just a normal HTPC running XBMC/KODI with the same add-ons? Or is it the fact that the add-ons can only be connected to if you buy the Dragon Box? I mean, don't get me wrong, I see the attraction to just buying something and not having to mess with it, but I'm just wondering if it is somehow more than just a customized skin for XBMC? That video doesn't really show me anything that answers that question.
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Review I found on AVS.

Here's my unbiased review after taking a look first hand at the various media streaming devices.

First of all, any Android powered internet streaming box that can stream Kodi or a similar app is essentially a vehicle for which to watch content previously available on your computer. The benefits include HD quality picture but no surround sound. You can also view movies as old as you can imagine and as current as those in the theaters today. You can also watch live TV and other content like music videos and cartoons. Android boxes range in price from $50 - $150. The Dragon Box costs $250 - $300 and gives you their proprietary Dragon Stream which was hacked and subsequently shut down over the past weekend turning a $300 Dragon Box into a $100 Android box. The Dragon Stream basically consolidates all the PPV and sports in one convenient app. Is that worth the premium? Well that's up to you to decide. Do you need one of these boxes at all, not if you have a computer and don't mind watching your content on a smaller screen. Should you pay up for the premium Dragon Box? Only if you understand the associated risks of them being able to resurrect their Dragon Stream and keeping it exclusively for those who purchased one of their boxes. Is a lower cost Android box the box for you? Sure if movies and TV are your thing and you could care less about PPV sports or are savvy enough to locate the specific apps within Kodi to deliver your content. I hope this answers the question many have about these boxes.
Click to expand...
 
Void

Void

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One thing I'd like to point out, if this is what is holding you back, is that it is trivially easy to connect any modern TV to your computer, so the whole "if you don't mind watching your content on a smaller screen" comment is misleading. I run KODI on an Intel NUC, which is literally smaller than a double CD case (if anyone still uses those) and is a full-fledged PC at the same time. So it is actually smaller than the Dragon Box. With the addition of a torrent site like IPT, practically anyone can watch anything within reason...except live streams. My experience with streaming TV is documented in the Torrent thread I believe, and so far works perfectly. This first weekend of RedZone will be the true test I suppose.

I'm not saying not to buy whatever you want, but if all the exclusive content boils down to their proprietary feed, it is going to get shut down time after time. Or hacked and made available for others, as mentioned. At least when you do it yourself via torrents and streaming sites, you aren't stuck with a $300 piece of hardware that doesn't work anymore because you can't modify it to access new sources. Setting up that kind of stuff yourself isn't particularly difficult, but I don't know that anyone is going to walk you through it step-by-step either, particularly when something goes wrong in the future, so I guess that is something to consider.

Thanks for the clarification. I would highly recommend against it, but as I said, I'm not going to set something up for you either (I'll certainly give advice and tips, as I'm sure others will, but it isn't the same), so it all depends upon what you want to put into it.
 
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Tenks

Bronze Knight of the Realm
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Why hasn't someone figured out how to connect a RPI to your TV that will automatically start up streams and basically DV-R it. I understand why other companies can't because most likely it is illegal as hell (or you'd need to pay someone) but it feels like something someone could do rather easily with some RPI program.
 
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Tenks

Bronze Knight of the Realm
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RPI2 has a quad core 900 Mhz and a gig of ram. Is my shitty Scientific Atlantic box from TWC really more powerful? I can't find any specs about onboard processor and memory for the cable boxes.
 
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